Various machines and devices are known for accepting items of currency in exchange for goods and services. In devices that accept items of currency there is often a validation component for determining the type and validity of the inserted currency, for example a bill validator as known in the art. An example of a bill validator apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,712,352, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In some devices, there is a need to store the accepted currency that has been determined to be valid within the machine for either collection at a later time or for dispensing as part of a subsequent transaction. Storage of accepted currency often takes the form of a cashbox or currency storage container.
When a machine or device stores currency, there are often concerns with the security and accessibility of the stored currency to prevent theft. Various measures have been developed to minimize theft from such storage areas for example, locks or tamper evident markers. Systems also have been developed to prevent the extraction of an item of currency, for example a bill or banknote, once the machine has issued credit for the inserted bill.
An example of a system for preventing the extraction of a bill from a bill validation device is disclosed in issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,589. The system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,589 utilizes a rotary type gate to prevent a user from extracting an accepted banknote from a machine using a string attached thereto. Particularly, once the bill validator has accepted the banknote, a user may attempt to extract the accepted banknote using the attached string. However the rotary gate can be actuated so as to block the transportation path and thus prevent extraction of the banknote.
Another example of a device to prevent the extraction of a banknote from a bill validator using a rotary gate is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,179,110. The device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,179,110 utilizes a rotary type gate positioned along the transportation path of a banknote validator. In particular, the disclosed device has a driving device for rotating the rotary gate from a position allowing passage of a banknote there through to at least one position preventing passage of a banknote along the transportation path. Other features of the device disclosed in the foregoing patent include a bill validator with a rotator and driving device of the rotator which can be prevented from being damaged by inertial force of the rotator motor when the rotator is stopped in a position.